Students React to Lean School Lunches With ‘We Are Hungry’ Song

As a way to help combat obesity, new federal guidelines were recently put in place stipulating that schools serve meals totaling no more than 850 calories. Since then, some students say the new low-cal lunches simply aren't enough. One group of students at Wallace County High in Kansas even created a protest song called 'We are Hungry' that parodies Fun.'s 'We are Young.'

In the video, famished students find it difficult to perform at school due to a lack of food. Many collapse while playing sports, others fall asleep during class and some resort to hoarding junk food in their lockers.

Linda O’Connor, the teacher who wrote the lyrics to the song, said students claim the lunches simply don't give them enough energy to get through the day.

"From day one when the students went through the line, they literally looked at their plates incredulously," O’Connor said. "Like, 'Is this really what we’re being served?' It was the lack of protein and the entrée that really hit hard for them."

But pediatric dietician Anne Condon-Meyers says the calorie limit and reduction in protein should be fine for most kids, especially if they supplement with fruit, vegetables and low-fat milk. Besides, the new guidelines are designed to fight obesity, and "it doesn’t take a lot of extra calories per day to gain weight at a fast rate," she said.

What do you think? Are these new lunches a good idea or are we starving our children?